services in the world. they carried out spectacular operations against the cia and againstthefbi. iwrite about 48 or 49 double agents that the cuban service ran against the cia. these were cubans that the cia recruited and paid. the cubans all turned out actually to have been working for castro and not the cia >> reporter: lou did you get close to them? >> i was fortunate i was able to get in touch with about a half dozen defectors, high level, very knowledgeable defectors. these men, all of them are men, provided me with extremely penetrating, interesting stories about the inner workings of cuban intelligence. some of the great successes against america. some of their most odius, despicable actions in latin america or some of the united states >> reporter: you talked about some of the attempts on castro's life. you started by saying, he is still alive. juxtapose with the cia looking to end his reins there. how does he survive all of these years? >> i write about this. i talk about two or three very serious assassination attempts. his intelligence service that he created penetrated the c